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In 1990 Ireland experienced an unusually vivid succession of public moments: a European presidency, a breakthrough summer in football, Nelson Mandela’s visit, a presidential election that overturned political expectations, and a landmark change in criminal law. Together they gave the Republic an outward-looking appearance that contrasted with everyday insecurity. Unemployment remained high, emigration was familiar to many households, and the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats coalition under Charles Haughey governed a country still emerging from the fiscal and economic crises of the 1980s. In Northern Ireland, the conflict continued to take lives even as tentative new political thinking appeared.
The Republic’s general election of Thursday 15 June was the immediate political turning point. Charles Haughey’s Fianna Fáil remained the largest party, winning 77 seats in the 166-seat Dáil, but it fell short of an overall majority. Fine Gael increased its representation to 55 seats, while Labour rose to 15 and the Workers’ Party to seven. The Progressive Democrats, founded in 1985 after a breakaway led by Desmond O’Malley, suffered a sharp electoral decline from their 1987 high, returning only six TDs. Nonetheless, their small parliamentary group acquired exceptional importance because Fianna Fáil needed a partner.
On 11 January John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, met Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin. The encounter was exceptional. Hume led a constitutional nationalist party committed to peaceful politics; Sinn Féin was closely associated with the Provisional IRA’s armed campaign. Both men said afterwards that a third party had prompted the meeting and that they would report to their organisations. Declassified Irish official material shows that Taoiseach Charles Haughey was informed of the contact and did not disapprove. Further private discussions continued between January and August.
The most enduring constitutional event of the year was the referendum held on 7 September. The proposal had originated under the previous Fianna Fáil administration but was carried through the Oireachtas during FitzGerald’s coalition government after months of contentious debate. The wording inserted Article 40.3.3 into the Constitution, acknowledging the right to life of the unborn while having due regard to the equal right to life of the mother. The referendum passed by a large majority. More than 840,000 people voted in favour, and the amendment became part of the Constitution.
The year began with the end of Garret FitzGerald’s Fine Gael–Labour coalition. On 27 January, the Government lost its Budget vote by 82 votes to 81. The immediate controversy concerned a proposed extension of VAT to children’s shoes, but the defeat exposed a more fundamental problem: the coalition did not command a secure majority in the Dáil. President Patrick Hillery dissolved the Twenty-second Dáil that day, and the electorate returned to the polls on 18 February.
Northern Ireland entered 1970 after the violence and displacement of 1969, with trust between communities, police and government already gravely damaged. The split within the Irish Republican Army at the end of 1969 quickly became a practical reality during 1970: the Official and Provisional wings developed separate organisations and strategies. Republican activity, loyalist violence and confrontations with the security forces added to an atmosphere in which many neighbourhoods, particularly working-class areas of Belfast and Derry, viewed security through communal experience rather than as an impartial public service.
